Posted!

Join the Conversation

Comments

Welcome to our new and improved comments, which are for subscribers only.
This is a test to see whether we can improve the experience for you.
You do not need a Facebook profile to participate.

You will need to register before adding a comment.
Typed comments will be lost if you are not logged in.

Please be polite.
It's OK to disagree with someone's ideas, but personal attacks, insults, threats, hate speech, advocating violence and other violations can result in a ban.
If you see comments in violation of our community guidelines, please report them.

Former Beaumont official pleads guilty in corruption case, ordered to pay back $3 million

Embezzlement and other charges were filed Tuesday against former Beaumont officials.

Buy Photo

Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin talks to media about the investigation into public corruption in the city of Beaumont. Photo taken on Tuesday, May 17, 2016 in Riverside.(Photo: Richard Lui/The Desert Sun)Buy Photo

Beaumont’s former director of public works has pleaded guilty in a corruption case and must pay $3 million back to the city, officials announced Friday.

Deepak Moorjani was also ordered to serve three years probation, according to the Riverside County District Attorney's office.

Moorjani admitted that his company, Urban Logic Consultants, financially benefited while advising the city on contracts. He also admitted that the company received millions of dollars in developer fees intended for a regional agency.

According to Riverside County court documents, Moorjani had $3 million spread across 23 bank accounts.

On Wednesday, former Beaumont police chief Francis Dennis Coe Jr. also plead guilty to one misdemeanor count of conspiracy to commit theft. He was sentenced to three years of summary probation and 200 hours of community service. He also agreed to pay $50,000 back to the city.

Moorjani and Coe were two of seven city officials arrested last year on allegations that they stole as much as $43 million from Beaumont.

The other suspects are: Alan Kapanicas, Beaumont's former city manager; David Dillon, the former economic development director; Ernest Egger, the former city planner; Joseph Sandy Aklufi, the former city attorney; and William Aylward, the former finance director. Cases against five other suspects is ongoing.

The seven defendants are charged in a 33-count complaint, including alleged crimes of conflict of interest, embezzlement of public funds, misappropriation of public funds and conspiracy, according to a press release from the district attorney's office.

Prosecutors have said the corruption began nearly 30 years ago, when the city began working with Urban Logic Consultants.

Three employees from that company — Dillon, Egger and Moorjani — were put in charge of Beaumont’s planning, economic development and public works. From these positions, the suspects are accused of advising the city to issue new bonds while making payments to their own company with money from the bond sales.

Jenny Ung covers education for The Desert Sun. She can be reached at jenny.ung@desertsun.com or (760) 218-2427.